MetaFilter posts tagged with wisconsin

Great Lakes to be filter-fed to carp

anthill — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 07:57:21 -0800

Asian Carp update: since 2003(previously), the inexorable advance of Asian Carp up the Mississippi delta has brought them to within 6 miles of Lake Michigan. These invasive "100-pound Zebra Mussels" suck rivers clean and starve native fish. Asian Carp are now 97% of the fish biomass in the Mississippi delta. The "electric fence" across the canal didn't stop them. The poisoning of the canal won't stop them. Closing the Chicago sewage canal locks is the only way to be sure. But the Army Corps of Engineers have the jurisdiction. Feel safe? If you are from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania or New York, take a minute to write your Federal representative. If the Asian Carp get into the Great Lakes, it's bye-bye Trout, Bass, Coho, Steelhead, and every fish in the $7 billion fishing industry. Now or never.

Wisconsin Death Trip

Kattullus — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:22:36 -0800

Charles Van Schaick was a photographer in Black River Falls, Wisconsin in the late 19th and early 20th Century. His work was made famous by Michael Lesy in the book Wisconsin Death Trip in which the photographs were juxtaposed with local newsreports of murder, suicide, disease, insanity, animal mutilation and other calamities plus the occasional non-morbid event. Flickr set of photos used in Wisconsin Death Trip. Some of the texts from Wisconsin Death Trip. Robert Birnbaum interviews Michael Lesy about Wisconsin Death Trip and other things. Over 2500 photographs by Charles Van Schaick owned by The Wisconsin Historical Society. [Warning: Some of the photographs are of deceased infants]

Wisconsin book burners

sredefer — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 22:32:59 -0800

"If you told me we would be going through a book challenge of this nature, I'd think, 'Never in a million years.' " A Wisconsin couple's petition to have certain "objectionable" books moved from the young adult to the adult section of their public library has lead to heated debates on both sides of the issue and has culminated in 4 "elderly" men filing a claim against the library in question. They're asking for a book to be removed and burned as it damaged their "mental and emotional well-being". The book is called Baby Be-Bop. The American Library Association's compilation of information on book burnings (200 B.C.E - present).

I know you are, but what am I?

scalefree — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:32:00 -0800

The town of Shawano, WI claims a local group with a history of controversy called the Samanta Roy Institute of Science & Technology (SIST) profiled in this WSAW TV investigative series (part 1, part 2, part 3 & part 4) is a murderous cult that tried to hire a hitman to assassinate 60 prominent citizens including the mayor, city administrator, city treasurer, city attorney, police chief, judges, investigators & fire commissioners. SIST returns the favor & claims it's the mayor who's running a cult (part 1, part 2 & more), calling her the Minister of Propaganda. As a CBS investigative team found out, things are tense in this sleepy town. The FBI says it's keeping an eye on the situation.

Shalom, Christmas Shoppers

escabeche — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 18:51:44 -0800

"We're not selling here -- we're hunting!" The young man or woman at the mall kiosk who grabs your shoulder and says "Can I have twenty seconds of your time to show you something amazing?" might be a young Israeli saving up for a pre-army jaunt to Asia or South America. The U.S. kiosk trade has become popular enough in Israel to inspire a folk-rock song by musician and kiosk veteran Rami Feinstein. The Wall Street Journal offers a generally admiring profile of the Israeli "natural-born closers." The Capital Times, in Madison, WI, wishes they'd buzz off.

Wisconsin Attorney General sues Elections Agency

echo target — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 12:49:10 -0800

The Attorney General of Wisconsin, JB Van Hollen, is suing the state Elections Board to remove from voting rolls all voters whose registered names & addresses don't match the records at the Department of Transportation. The Elections Board is required by law to check the information filed by new registrants against the information in the DOT database. The law does not specify what should be done when a mismatch is found. Van Hollen wants the Board to require all voters, both new and previously registered to cast a provisional ballot if there is a mismatch. Read the Elections Board's reponse (PDF). The Elections Board had decided not to force existing voters to cast provisional ballots after finding that 20% of voter registrations had mismatching information, mostly due to typographical errors and variations in spelling. Some are saying this suit could turn Wisconsin into "the new Florida" in the upcoming election. Other Wisconsin folks may remember Van Hollen from his instance during his campaign that there are active terrorist training camps in Wisconsin.

The Mediocre Samaritan

cog_nate — Wed, 07 May 2008 09:08:17 -0800

The Mediocre Samaritan is a bittersweetly funny film fictionalization of an event that took place in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin on February 21, 2007. Produced by J. Elvis Weinstein of MST3K, Stinkburger Inc. and Cinematic Titanic fame. (Event detailed previously on Metafilter. Also, NSFW for a couple seconds of pasty, naked male butt and tactfully censored footage of Casa de Culo.)

"Let's be careful out there"

Kibbutz — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:10:51 -0800

Next time you thump an animal on the highway, don't just drive on like nothing happened. Stop, get out of your car, and measure the carcass for entry into the Roadkill Record Book Club. The entry fee is only $10, and they accept PayPal, MasterCard, and Visa. Categories include Antlered Big Game, Predators, and Yucky Stuff. And "only measure what's left." (via)

Dr Evermor's Art Park

jonson — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 14:46:39 -0800

Dr Evermor's Art Park featuring the world's largest scrap metal sculpture, the Forevertron, is one of the most impressive metalwork collections I've ever seen. Great write up on the place over at Neatorama with tons of pix.

Pao, right in the Kisser

thanotopsis — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 14:26:02 -0800

"Honor Your Process," read some of the signs held by protesters in a recent school board meeting here in sunny Madison, Wisconsin. They were protesting naming a new elementary school after General Vang Pao, Secret Army fighter during the Vietnam war, and ex-patriot of Laos after the Communist government took over in 1975. Amidst local Hmong leaders' charges of racism against the Hmong community (Wisconsin is no stranger to these charges, as Mefi featured here), protesters pointed to the recent arrest of Pao in California, charged with weapons trafficking to support a revolution against the government of Laos. The school board ended up agreeing with the protesters, and have returned to their original list of finalists for the elementary school's name.

Frankenlaw!

escabeche — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 11:22:27 -0800

The partial veto , enshrined in the Wisconsin Constitution since 1930, gives the governor the power to veto only a portion of a bill passed by the legislature. Since then, governors, both Republican and Democratic, have gotten increasingly creative about its application -- vetoing the word "not" to reverse the meaning of a bill, vetoing digits out of numbers to reduce appropriations, even vetoing individual letters from words in order to create new text, Humument-style. (This last power, the so-called "Vanna White" veto, was removed by Constitutional amendment in 1990.) Another attempt to strip the governor of the partial veto has just failed. Doesn't it sound like fun to be governor of Wisconsin? Try it yourself.

A House, a Mouse, and a Louse

maryh — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 04:05:11 -0800

Tom Hignite wasn't content owning one of Wisconsin's most successful companies, Miracle Homes. The evangelical contracting magnate had a dream. He would be the Walt Disney(sound) of the 21st century. So he turned a portion of his 7,000 square foot house into a studio, hired a crew of veteran Disney and Warner Bros. animators, and proceeded to make a feature film QT starring his own creation, Miracle Mouse. This is the story of how it all went wrong.

What's going on in La Crosse, Wisconsin?

anjamu — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 23:27:19 -0800

... the eighth young man since 1997 was found dead in the Mississippi River in the La Crosse [Wisconsin] area on Monday.

A Fair Wisconsin Votes No

thefreek — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 08:10:12 -0800

Gay Marriage Debate Turns Violent A violent brawl broke out on Tuesday during a discussion in a Wauwatosa restaurant over the proposed same-sex marriage referendum, and the incident was apparently caught on videotape. Video of the brawl here. 39 days until Wisconsin votes "No" on the civil unions and marriage ban.

Making a Horlicks

tellurian — Sun, 24 Sep 2006 21:07:02 -0800

A case of Horlicks for 1,000 - 2,000 British Pounds (the lot description doesn't contains a mention of any actual Horlicks though). Horlicks has been around since 1883. Their early efforts at promotion included the invention of a condition they called 'Night Starvation'. As well as press, radio (they sponsored Dan Dare) and television advertising they also featured in the cinema at one time. These films, made by George Pál, are quite surreal. Although Horlicks seems to be made from the same ingredients as Maltesers, the company has pushed their product in India as making children "taller, stronger and sharper" - tying it in with the Superman Returns movie. Back home in England, Horlicks is made fun of despite the fact that it is one of the ingredients in a jolly nice self-saucing pudding.

Even the dead are not safe

Tablecrumbs — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 12:58:27 -0800

Necrophiles are rare (thank God!) enough, but to find three such people in one location is strange indeed. We'll never know if they would have actually gone through with it. They were however certainly making all the preparations.

Suction is the female of movement and pressure is the male of movement.

UKnowForKids — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 11:48:55 -0800

"Lawsonomy is the knowledge of Life and everything pertaining thereto." The collected works of Alfred Lawson - professional baseball player, aviation pioneer, economist, scientist, theologist, and philosopher - are available to all. [more inside]

Kubla Khan

PHINC — Fri, 10 Jun 2005 08:27:06 -0800

Xanadu Home of the Future sits rotting in Kissimmee, Florida. It was built in the early 80s by Roy Mason and combined a unique architectural approach with an environment controlled by Commodore computers. Squatters were probably not part of this future plan. You can buy this visionary piece of futures past today or you could buy one in Sedona. However, be aware that the Gatlinburg and Wisconsin Xanadus were not preserved.

The end of "Can you here me now?"

jaydedx — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 21:32:48 -0800

Robot planes may make phone towers obsolete "...it's a "Stratellite", and its makers believe it will revolutionise the broadband and wireless industry; if it ever gets off the ground.

Wisconsin communications company Sanswire on Tuesday unveiled its almost-finished prototype of a hard-framed, unmanned airship designed to fly in the stratosphere 21km above the earth and send broadband and cellphone signals to an area the size of Texas."

This in my opinion is an example of truly innovative technology.

Sit down and stay put!

billysumday — Fri, 01 Apr 2005 10:15:32 -0800

Ms. Wheelchair Wisconsin stripped of title for standing up. Candidates for the crown have to "mostly be seen in the public using their wheelchairs or scooters," said Judy Hoit, Ms. Wheelchair America's treasurer. "Otherwise you've got women who are in their wheelchairs all the time and they get offended if they see someone standing up. We can't have title holders out there walking when they're seen in the public." Reminds me of the joke of the kid who won the "Most Humble" award at his school, was given a badge, and then had it taken away from him when he put it on.

Terry Ratzmann's Homepage.

tpoh.org — Sun, 13 Mar 2005 08:58:24 -0800

Terry Ratzmann's Homepage. After reading some accounts of the Wisconsin church shooting, I noted he was into horticulture. A Google search turned up only four entries, one from his church, and three forum posts written by Terry himself about plants, which included his email address at "traven@execpc.com". I went old school, and formatted an URL in Unix style, trying his email name as a web directory and hit paydirt.

Nader's nadir

thewittyname — Sat, 26 Jun 2004 15:03:26 -0800

The Green Party rejects Ralph Nader. On the second ballot at the Green Party nominating convention held today in Milwaukee, WI, David Cobb defeated Peter Camajo (Nader's running mate) for the Green Party nomination, thereby denying Nader automatic placement onto the ballot in 23 states.

Can a Pharmacist Refuse To Dispense Birth Control?

Postroad — Tue, 01 Jun 2004 09:44:31 -0800

Can a Pharmacist Refuse To Dispense Birth Control? "Neil Noesen, a relief pharmacist at the Kmart in Menomonie, Wis., was the only person on duty one day in 2002 when a woman came in to refill her prescription for the contraceptive Loestrin FE. According to a complaint filed by the Wisconsin department of regulation and licensing, Noesen refused because of his religious opposition to birth control. He also declined to transfer the prescription to a nearby pharmacy and refused once again when the woman returned to the store with police...."

Wisconsin could get weirder?

rev- — Tue, 13 Jan 2004 12:48:15 -0800

Clearly, kids trapped inside Pick-A-Toy machines is only the lastest example of weirdness As a recent Wisconsinite, I've noticed everyone from The Simpsons to The West Wing gets in a few easy swipes at the cheese state. But this is a nice (and new) collection of historical weirdness in Wisconsin. From images of Cow Chip Tossing to a Female Band Playing to Cows, this state clearly has some issues.

1.5 million tax dollars to save... a parade?

Tubes — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 09:07:02 -0800

Expensive clowns. Some Wisconsin senators want to "save Milwaukee's Circus Parade by giving $1.5 million in tax dollars to the Baraboo-based Circus World Museum."